Measures to Improve the Strength of Concrete

2021-06-10

Concrete is a kind of man-made stone which also called "artificial stone". Naturally, we can also artificially intervene to change its performance or strength.

Water-cement ratio

Reduce the water-cement ratio as much as possible. In order to reduce the free water in the concrete mixture, it is common to adopt a smaller water-cement ratio and dry hard concrete with a small water consumption, or mix a water-reducing agent into the concrete.

Aggregate

Improve the particle gradation of coarse and fine aggregates. The particle grading of sand refers to the situation where sands of different particle sizes are matched with each other. The well-graded sand has a small porosity, which not only saves cement, but also improves the workability of the concrete mixture and improve the density, strength and durability of concrete.

Admixture

Incorporate admixtures to improve frost resistance and impermeability. Concrete admixture is a substance that is mixed in the process of mixing concrete to improve the performance of concrete. The content of the admixture is not more than 5% of the cement quality. The admixture is very small, but it can significantly improve the performance of concrete, improve technical and economic effects and easy to use, so it has received attention from home and abroad, and has become the fifth component of concrete in addition to cement, sand, stone, and water.

Maintenance

Using wet heat treatment for steam curing and autoclave curing. Steam curing is to place concrete in atmospheric steam at a temperature lower than 100°C for curing. Generally, after 16 to 20 days of steam curing, the strength of concrete can reach 70 to 80% of the 28 days of curing under normal conditions. Autoclave curing is to place the concrete components in a pressure steamer at a temperature of 175°C and 8 atmospheres for curing. Under high temperature conditions, the calcium hydroxide precipitated during cement hydration can not only combine with active silica, but also with crystalline silica to form hydrous silicate crystals, which accelerates the hydration of cement , and the strength of the concrete is also greatly improved.